Inquiry over hospital's safeguarding and finances

An inquiry has been opened into safeguarding and financial concerns at a mental health hospital.

The Charity Commission had previously opened a compliance case into St Andrew's Healthcare in Northampton, but said it had now been escalated due to "ongoing concerns".

It comes after NHS England ordered the removal of all 287 inpatients from the hospital over safety concerns earlier this year.

In a statement, St Andrew's said it was "working collaboratively with the Charity Commission", and added that its "priority is to ensure safe care for all patients and to drive rapid improvements in quality".

The statement continued: "A detailed action plan is already under way, overseen with the support of NHS England, and driven by new leadership at board, executive and clinical levels."

The charity, which was registered in 2004, first came to the commission's attention in August last year after it submitted a serious incident report concerning potential mistreatment of patients, which it had referred to Northamptonshire Police for investigation.

The commission's compliance case has also assessed concerns "about the oversight of safeguarding provision by the trustees of the charity, the financial viability of the charity and the wider governance, management and administration of the charity by its trustees".

It said its inquiry would examine the extent to which the trustees were complying or had complied with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity.

The inquiry will assess how well St Andrew's Healthcare has co-operated with regulators, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS England.

It will also look at the "future viability" of the charity.

The decision to withdraw patients followed enforcement action taken against the hospital, announced in December.

In March, NHS England said "we still do not have adequate assurance that patient safety is improving at the rate it needs to and our concerns about patient safety remain".

"We therefore must act now to ensure patients receive the care and treatment they deserve," it continued.

It added that "unacceptable issues" had been identified at the hospital.

A report by the CQC also described how its inspectors saw CCTV footage of staff at St Andrew's kicking and hitting a patient during a restraint as colleagues watched on.

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